1. BMW Apps factory option (6NR) on your car.
2. iPhone Media cradle (NOT Music or Basic cradle).
3. iPhone 4/4S. Technically the 4th-gen iPod touch would work too but it doesn't fit into the cradle and Plug-in doesn't work over normal USB.

I have it, it's kinda cool but honestly I think it's a gimmick. Sure the iPod interface up on iDrive looks nice, but honestly iDrive's normal iPod navigation interface is really good. The only other feature Plug-in offers is video playback of stuff in your library, but of course that only works while you're stopped. Every other feature of BMW Connected is available over normal USB and should therefore work from any iPhone or iPod touch. The one BMW Apps feature I really do enjoy is iDrive-controlled Pandora. If you run Pandora and then plug it into your car via USB or the cradle, you can do things from iDrive like switch stations, skip songs, up/downvote songs, etc. Only bummer is Pandora album art doesn't appear in split screen Entertainment view like normal iPod music does (it shows in the main Pandora app though).

If I could do it again I would probably still get BMW Apps for Pandora and because it could be a really cool feature if more BMW Apps-compatible apps come out, but I'd pass on the cradle. I just don't use the features that require the cradle, so the only time it's come in handy is when both my wife and I need to charge our devices, so one of us uses the cradle and the other uses USB. But that's been a very rare occasion.

1. BMW Apps factory option (6NR) on your car.
2. iPhone Media cradle (NOT Music or Basic cradle).
3. iPhone 4/4S. Technically the 4th-gen iPod touch would work too but it doesn't fit into the cradle and Plug-in doesn't work over normal USB.

I have it, it's kinda cool but honestly I think it's a gimmick. Sure the iPod interface up on iDrive looks nice, but honestly iDrive's normal iPod navigation interface is really good. The only other feature Plug-in offers is video playback of stuff in your library, but of course that only works while you're stopped. Every other feature of BMW Connected is available over normal USB and should therefore work from any iPhone or iPod touch. The one BMW Apps feature I really do enjoy is iDrive-controlled Pandora. If you run Pandora and then plug it into your car via USB or the cradle, you can do things from iDrive like switch stations, skip songs, up/downvote songs, etc. Only bummer is Pandora album art doesn't appear in split screen Entertainment view like normal iPod music does (it shows in the main Pandora app though).

If I could do it again I would probably still get BMW Apps for Pandora and because it could be a really cool feature if more BMW Apps-compatible apps come out, but I'd pass on the cradle. I just don't use the features that require the cradle, so the only time it's come in handy is when both my wife and I need to charge our devices, so one of us uses the cradle and the other uses USB. But that's been a very rare occasion.

Make sure the cradle is locked all the way in; it's kind of a weird mounting mechanism, so it's possible for the cradle to feel installed and only be partially connected to the baseplate. Try ejecting the cradle, lining up the front, and then pressing down on the back of it; you should hear a few pretty loud clicks. Then when you insert your iPhone (it won't work if you have a case on it), it should be charging. If it's not doing that, then I'd recommend dropping by a dealer somewhere so you can test your cradle in another car and/or a different cradle in your car to rule out hardware issues.

If it does charge, at that point you should be good to go. To use the in-app features of BMW Connected, open the app on your phone. To use Facebook, Twitter, and Internet Radio, open the BMW Connected app and then go to ConnectedDrive and select the function you want. For Pandora, open Pandora on your phone (make sure you've got the latest version), then go to either Radio or ConnectedDrive to choose it. For Plug-in, go to ConnectedDrive. For videos, go to the normal iPod navigation interface and in the vertical stack of icons on the left, you should see Videos as an option.

1. BMW Apps factory option (6NR) on your car.
2. iPhone Media cradle (NOT Music or Basic cradle).
3. iPhone 4/4S. Technically the 4th-gen iPod touch would work too but it doesn't fit into the cradle and Plug-in doesn't work over normal USB.

I have it, it's kinda cool but honestly I think it's a gimmick. Sure the iPod interface up on iDrive looks nice, but honestly iDrive's normal iPod navigation interface is really good. The only other feature Plug-in offers is video playback of stuff in your library, but of course that only works while you're stopped. Every other feature of BMW Connected is available over normal USB and should therefore work from any iPhone or iPod touch. The one BMW Apps feature I really do enjoy is iDrive-controlled Pandora. If you run Pandora and then plug it into your car via USB or the cradle, you can do things from iDrive like switch stations, skip songs, up/downvote songs, etc. Only bummer is Pandora album art doesn't appear in split screen Entertainment view like normal iPod music does (it shows in the main Pandora app though).

If I could do it again I would probably still get BMW Apps for Pandora and because it could be a really cool feature if more BMW Apps-compatible apps come out, but I'd pass on the cradle. I just don't use the features that require the cradle, so the only time it's come in handy is when both my wife and I need to charge our devices, so one of us uses the cradle and the other uses USB. But that's been a very rare occasion.

I enjoy the cradle for charging the phone, and for the added signal the reception gets from tying in with the mounted antenna on the car.

My question though is are you sure I have to have "BMW Apps" to use the cover art option? My wife's 135 seems to display the cover art anytime her iPhone is plugged into the USB port in her car, and I know she didn't get that option. But when I plug my phone into the cradle I still only get the default iDrive track listing screen and no cover art. Is there something I am not doing correctly or is it just because of the BMW Apps option?